Get the latest tech news

Trump plan to fund Starlink over fiber called “betrayal” of rural US | Director of $42 billion broadband fund pushed out, says program is being ruined.


Director of $42 billion broadband fund pushed out, says program is being ruined.

A federal broadband official departed the US government with a warning that a Trump administration plan will strand rural Americans with worse Internet access in order to help Elon Musk secure public money for Starlink. "Stranding all or part of rural America with worse Internet so that we can make the world's richest man even richer is yet another in a long line of betrayals by Washington," wrote Evan Feinman, who had been a Commerce Department official and director of the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program since 2022. As Politico reported, Feinman made the statement in "a blistering email to his former colleagues on his way out the door Sunday warning that the Trump administration is poised to unduly enrich Elon Musk's satellite Internet company with money for rural broadband."

Get the Android app

Or read this on r/technology

Read more on:

Photo of Trump

Trump

Photo of program

program

Photo of Starlink

Starlink

Related news:

News photo

‘Inferior’ Starlink Will Leave Rural Americans Worse Off, Says Ousted Federal Official | Starlink is cheap to deploy, but could leave rural Americans "stranded" with slower speeds and higher costs

News photo

Elon Musk’s Starlink Expands Across White House Complex

News photo

Top Broadband Official Exits Commerce Department With Warning About Starlink